when magic sings and the moon calls
by Shane Arianna Hunter
Summary: ronnie ryan is an elemental with a werewolf side. her life's in danger, grave danger and so is her brother's. can she escape from school with the help of friends in time to save her brother?


Chapter 1

"You are going away, where I don't have to deal with you," Headmistress Graham said. "You cause way too much trouble and I do not want to have to put up with you."

"But, Headmistress I can straighten up. Please just give me the chance," I pleaded. Which told you just how much I didn't want to go where they were sending me; I _never _pleaded. _Never_.

"Veronica… I've given you plenty of chances, and you haven't taken them. No. I will not have you disrupting everyone." She sighed. "I don't want to send you to the Greene's… but they offered and I'm not going to turn them down."

I just stared at her. I couldn't believe this was happening. It was as if all my worst nightmares were coming true. I mean come one, _the Greene's_? That place has a reputation. Not to mention folklore.

"Go pack Veronica, it is best if you don't put this off any longer. Goodbye Veronica Ryan." I knew a dismissal when I heard one. So I picked up my canvas messenger bag and walked out of the door. So whatif I was a little _different_? Who cares? Aren't we always told that we are different and it's a good thing? So what the hell?

On my way out I slammed the door so hard the walls rattled. I didn't need to go up to my room, everything I owned fit into my little backpack. And yes I mean _everything_.

"Ronnie?" said Marsilla's voice. "Ronnie I just heard I can't believe they'd do this to you."

I was scooped up into a huge bear hug and had the breath squeezed out of me. "I know Marsi. It sucks. And guess where they're sending me?"

She shook her head and looked at me. "The Greene's."

"No!"

"Yep. Isn't it horrid?" I hugged my best friend back as hard as I could. Who knows how long we stood there holding each other.

"Ms. Ryan, your escort is here," said a man's voice.

I let go of Marsi and stared at the man. He was dressed far too fancy for my taste in a tux, with his hair combed back and his hands folded in front of him. In my grubby, worn jeans and Simple Plan t-shirt; I probably looked like a street rat compared to this guy.

I looked back at Marsilla and smiled. "Well you know what they say, one door closes, and another opens. I'll be fine. I can take care of myself. You know I can. I love you Marsi, I'll keep in touch with you until the day I die."

"_Anche a me_," she said, and wiping tears off her face handed me the baseball cap she was wearing. "As long as you have this with you, I will always be able to find you."

I took the cap and put it on my head. With a resigned sigh I turned and walked out the front doors of the Graham Academy and into the limo that was waiting to take me to my new life.

…

A long car ride and some boring scenery later, we arrived at the snooty all boys school, Academy of the Arts. Whatever the hell arts were taught here I had no clue. I opened the door and stepped out of the limo, feeling oddly out of place. I could eyes on me, watching me through the four story building's front windows.

I looked around and sighed. I knew I wasn't going to fit in here. I didn't fit in anywhere. Being the only girl student in an all boys school wasn't going to help either. It would probably just make it worse.

"Right this way Ms. Ryan," said the man who'd picked me up and driven me here.

I sighed and followed him, all the while thinking, _Great. Snooty rich kids school full of boys. This'll be fun. _I kept my eyes on my well scuffed converse as we entered the building and I was steered in the direction of, I'm assuming, the administrative office.

The man in front of me stopped at a door and knocked.

"Come in," answered a male voice. _Of course, _I thought, _male students equals male staff_.

I was ushered into a big room with two large windows and lots of bookcases.

"Ah, Ms. Ryan, come take a seat will you?" the man behind the desk asked. He was hot, I'll give him that, and he had strawberry blonde hair and dark brown eyes.

"Can I get you something to drink?" he asked. I just looked at him. "Right," he said, "okay let's get down to business."

"Yes let's. You pretend I go to school here, and I get to leave and wander the world like I want to," I said glaring at him.

"Unfortunately, we cannot allow you to do that Ms. Ryan." Though his tone told me he didn't think it was unfortunate at all. "We are a special school Ms. Ryan. And I believe we can really help you."

"With what? My sanity? Too late buster, I lost that a long time ago. And I sure as hell ain't gonna get it back."

"Now Ms. Ryan, I'm sure we can work something out. I know we can help you here. We are a school for magic and magic beings."

That last sentence made me freeze. Could he be for real? Let's see. "Oh yeah?" I asked snidely, "can you help me with this?" I held up my hand and summoned up a fireball so it was floating right there in my palm. "Or maybe this." And in my other hand I conjured up a waterball. "How about this?" I dismissed both the fire and water and made the plant on his desk grow until it smashed the vase. "Or this." I made the air coming in from the vent so cold everyone but I was shivering slightly.

I let my magic slide away and the air turned back to normal. Both of the men in the room had a look of awe on their faces. "As you can see, I have my magic under control. I don't need help nor do I welcome it."

"Ms. Ryan that was an incredible display of power. But we teach more than just magic control here. I am informing you that you will stay here and learn alongside the other students," the man behind the desk sat back. "Now my name is Daniel Greene and I am the headmaster here. Anything you do that is wrong, you will report to me. I deal with the troublemakers, and I can assure you, you are nothing compared to the boys here."

"We shall see," I said. I had more than just one trick up my sleeve. They didn't know I could also control the element that everyone forgets about… lightning. I intended to keep it that way.

Daniel Greene ignored my comment. But I knew he'd heard it. "You are in room 217 on the second floor. Classes start at nine in the morning, with a break for lunch at noon, and then end at three. At which time you are to do homework. Dinner is at eight o'clock and ends at nine. Then it's lights out until the next morning. Am I understood?"

I just looked at him. We sat there staring at one another for ten minutes before he sighed and shifted his eyes away. When it comes to stuff I don't want to do, or contests like that, I am _very patient_.

"We do not have uniforms and we are not cruel. You will meet all manner of species here. I assume your suitcase will be delivered soon?"

I glanced at him, "I don't have a suitcase sir. Just my backpack. Everything I own is in this backpack."

Greene frowned. "Then those are your only clothes?"

"Yes, the girls at my school thought it would be funny and burned all the rest of my clothes and shoes. Which wasn't very much but it was more than this."

He frowned again. "I'll have to send someone out for clothes for you. Any preferences? Besides leaving."

"No skirts. Absolutely NO dresses. No heels, fancy clothes or shoes. ONLY jeans and t-shirts and converse, they can be knockoffs. Preferably ones with Simple Plan and Linkin Park and 3OH!3 on them. If whoever goes out to get the clothes comes back with something girly, I will make sure it is destroyed and left on your doorstep," I told him bluntly.

He nodded. "Very well. Joseph escort Ms. Ryan to her room. What to you go by? Veronica?"

"No," I said over my shoulder as I left, "Ronnie."

…

Whispers and eyes followed us as we left the headmaster's office and walked up the stairs to the second floor. I heard whispers ranging from, "A _girl_?" to, "She's hot", as we walked.

"Who's that?"

"New student. Can you believe it? A girl in the school?"

"It's crazy dude. She's the only chick here."

The last one confirmed my suspicions.

"What power class is she do you think?"

"I don't know dude. Guess we'll find out in class."

They didn't know I was a class ten elemental. Which is the highest you can get. Nobody but Riley knew, and I wanted to keep it that way. If they knew I was class ten, I might never get out of here. And that wouldn't work. I needed to find Riley. I still couldn't believe I'd been stupid enough to let myself get caught, and then shipped to a school. The sooner I got out of here the better. I could tell that a werewolf was in the room to the right of mine, a wizard across the hall, and a shapeshifter was to my left.

"Here you are Ms. Ryan, have a wonderful time here," Joseph walked off.

"Not bloody likely," I muttered under my breath and slipped into my room. It was a boring place. A simple queen size bed, one window, a simple desk, and a chair. All very depressing I thought. "Ah well, better room than the other one I had."

"Who are you?" a male voice asked from the doorway.

I looked up from my backpack, which I'd tossed on the bed, to see the shapeshifter that lived to the right of me. He was around five foot nine with black hair and bright green eyes. He was ripped, you could tell by the way his shirt clung to the muscles of his chest and arms. I liked him already, he was wearing jeans and a his t-shirt said Linkin Park. His jeans weren't as ragged and torn as mine though.

"What?" I asked.

"Who are you?" he repeated.

I cocked my head at him. " Who are _you_?"

The shapeshifter growled.

I laughed. "Fine fine, my name is Ronnie Ryan and I have had the unfortunate bad luck to get myself landed in school. Now what's your name?"

"Arthion Blade," he replied.

I nodded at him and turned back to the process of emptying my backpack. "Nice to meet you Arthion Blade." I grabbed the bottom of my bag and upended it on the bed. My notebooks, pens, pencils, hats, only other set of clothes, and my CD player and iPod. As well as my CD's.

"Damn," I muttered. I'd forgotten that I'd had to take apart my stereo so the bits and pieces of it were littered here and there. I sighed and noticed that Arthion hadn't left my room. "You might want to watch out a sec…" I muttered as I closed my eyes and stuck my hands out over the mess.

I could feel the pieces of my stereo respond to my magic. I opened my eyes and saw all the pieces float up into the air. Bit by bit, I used the sixth element to piece them together; making sure that Arthion and another boy who'd joined him thought I was using my air element and not lightning.

After about twenty seconds my stereo sat on the bed, completely put together, with every piece working perfectly. I smiled.

"Merde," the boy who'd joined Arthion gasped. I looked at him through narrowed eyes. "And you are?" I smelled that he was the wizard.

"Gage Summoner. You?" Gage asked a slight smile on his face.

"Ronnie."

"What's that short for?"

"Why do you want to know?" I shot back.

He smirked obviously having proved something. What that something was I had no idea. I used the air draft from the vent to lift the stereo and set it on the desk. Then, using the same air current turned it on, out poured Pitbull's _Hotel Room Service_. I smiled then picked up my notebooks and set them on the bedside table.

I grabbed the candle that I warded every room I lived in with. It was called a Candela di Protezione; or candle of protection. Since there were a lot of people who'd like to kill me, I always warded any room I lived in I sat it in front of the window then walked back and plopped on my bed.

Then I noticed I hadn't lit it. I frowned at it and snapped my fingers, fire immediately lit the candle. I turned my head toward my doorway. "What? Never seen an elemental before?"

Gage and Arthion glowered at me. I just smiled and gestured them into the room. "Take a seat if you wanna. I won't object to it. I won't be here long though."

"What do you mean?" Gage asked. "You can't leave. It's forbidden."

I just looked at him, "I've never been very good with rules."

…

A few hours later, I was woken from my nap I'd taken after the boy's had left, by a _really _loud bell. I moaned and looked at my clock. It said eight. "Oh shit." I jumped up and tugged my shoes back on. I opened the door and noticed no one else was around. Trying to remember the way to the cafeteria, I went over escape plans in my head.

I heard a lot of noise. A lot of voices talking at once. _Well, found the cafeteria_. I turned the corner and all conversation stopped. I felt eyes on me all the way to the line. I grabbed a tray, grabbed some food, and sat down at an empty table on the far side of the room. I leaned back in my chair propped my feet up on the table, and closed my eyes.

Slowly, conversation started up again. Though I could tell this time that it was about me. I smelled shapshifter and opened my eyes to see Arthion sit down at my table. I smiled at him. "What's up?"

"You looked lonely… that and you're surprisingly fun to be around," he said and smirked. "Plus, you're hot."

I laughed. "Glad you think so. That was what I was hoping for when I put the purple in my hair."

I smelled werewolf just a few seconds before he approached. I could also smell his antagonism. "Go home," he said. "You're not welcome here."

I snapped my fingers and my entire hand burst into flame. "I'm not too happy that I'm here either, but until I find a way out, I am _not _in the mood to deal with assholes."

I slowly lowered the phone from my ear. I couldn't believe it. How'd he find us? We'd managed to stay hidden for so long. And now the game was up. Hell I couldn't even be sure if someone at this school was working for him. With Samuel, you NEVER underestimated him. He could pull off tons of scary shit. And frequently does for a living. DON'T ASK.

That's some scary ass stuff you don't want to get into. Only the truly evil would ever help. I think it's because our dad is evil that Riley and I are for the good guys. It makes sense doesn't it?

"Ronnie!" Gage shouted, running up beside me. "What the hell was that all about? You just flew outta there faster'n some of the _loup-garou _ever could. Wow you really must be half werewolf."

I looked at him with a _DUH _expression on my face. He smiled. Arthion ran up to me too. "Are you okay?" he asked. "When you left, you had this look on your face…"

I smiled tightly at him. "I'm better now. Only worried."

"What about?" Gage frowned at me.

"Nothing to concern yourself with," I said. "Shall we go to class?"

I walked off and left them with puzzled expressions on their faces. _Well that's just too bad, _I thought, _I'm not willing to tell them and ruin their lives too._

…

History of Magic passed in a blur. I already knew half of it. The half I knew Selvena had told me. Selvena used to be our maid when we were still at home. She was the one who'd told us what we were. She'd been the one to teach us the basics so we wouldn't kill anybody. I use past tense because she's dead. Samuel… my father… killed her when he learned that Riley and I were starting to like her.

The last class of the day was Magical Defense. I knew this class was going to be an easy A. I'm great at this stuff. Hell, I've been doing it since I was six. It was going to be easy. I walked into the class and everyone, including the teacher, looked at me.

The teacher looked back at the rest of the students pretty quickly. Dismissing me as 'just another student'; which I was really grateful for.

"Welcome to Magical Defense. I am Mr. Shanks. You can call me Shanks. And I am going to make sure you don't get killed in the field. Luckily, we get to have a great experience. We have an elemental in class."

All eyes turned to me again. I ignored them and focused on the teacher. Elementals are rare. That's one of the reasons why my dad wants to 'collect' me. Elementals also rarely get past thirteen. I'm eighteen. We have so much magic most of us tend to blow ourselves up in the first years we have our powers. Majority get them around ten; but some early bloomers, like me, get them the moment they're born.

"Miss Ryan," Shanks continued, "Would you show us what you know? When did you get your powers?"

"I had them the moment I was born. And I'm afraid it wouldn't be fair for me to fight one of the guys," I said, smiling.

One of the guys said, "We'll go easy on you."

My smile widened. "No, no. I meant it wouldn't be fair to _you._"

Shanks looked at me appraisingly. "Well Miss Ryan…"

"Ronnie."

Shanks nodded. "Ronnie, show us what you got then."

I smiled wider in true happiness. "With pleasure."


End file.
